


Bounded souls

by TQnowords



Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (Anime & Manga)
Genre: As it should be, F/M, Gen, If I go as far as chapter 5 be warned of dark themes and violence, Old trope of soul mates gone wrong, nothing is what it seems
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-27
Updated: 2019-12-20
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:27:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21579100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TQnowords/pseuds/TQnowords
Summary: People say that if you find your soulmate, you will see colors as never before and be happy for the rest of your life. Every girl's dream is meeting the special person who will give her eternal love, the destined one with whom she will reach a indescriptible bliss. Finding 'the one' was an illusion bigger than dreams of a white dress wedding and sweet cakes, or passing any class.That's what they say.For Usagi it wasn't like that.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	1. Chapter 1

**Chapter one: Meet you at the movie theater**

Naru was fourteen years old, she had red hair that reached her shoulders and huge green eyes, her grades were good and she was loved by many. But she still didn't have _him._  


That afternoon, she had just left the cinema after watching a romantic movie of the kind that turned the stomach a handful of butterflies and a make the heart drum. Beside her, just as excited, walked a girl with long blond hair combed in two pigtails.

"I can't wait to meet him," Naru said once again that day, her eyes shining hopefully as she imagined the promised, and out of reach, future.

"He will be a wonderful man, Naru" said the young blonde walking at her side, her voice more wishfuly than upbeat.

"I sure hope so, Usagi. But it will be better be fast….Now, there are a lot of monsters and I know he'll protect me"

Usagi blushed at the idea of being saved. Naru was completely unaware that Serena was the powerful heroine Sailor Moon and in her job, she was rescued routinely by her own prince in black tuxedo. She would had been sure that he was her soulmate ready to take her to the happiness if there wasn't a small detail.

"Haha! Do you believe in such ridiculous things?"

Appearing out of nowhere, dressed with a horrible green jacket, Mamoru arrived. He was Usagi's number one enemy and since a month ago he seemed to materialize at the least convenient moments just to annoy Usagi.

"Ridiculous? I see. You're one of those, aren't you?" Usagi crossed her arms and cast an inquiring glance at Mamoru, who returned her gaze with his cold blue eyes “I bet you don't have a soulmate, haha. What a loser!"

"I don't need something so silly" Mamoru said firmly without managing to suppress neither his blush or the small tremble of his lower lip when he finished speaking.

She smirked as she readied herself to mock Mamoru disastrous life a little longer, fate had other plans. Before saying even a single syllable, she felt the silent call on her skin that she had begun to associate with the presence of youmas.

The wiser thing to do was to ignore the feeling until she was away from both Mamoru and Naru. For her bad luck, the screams coming from inside the Cinema followed the sensation and, nervous of what she already knew, she turned back to see the place she had left just a few minutes ago.

"It came from the movie theater, didn't it?" Naru grabbed Serena's sweater before glancing to the empty street "Is it a monster?"

"There aren't any monsters," Mamoru said, but as a precaution he decided to place himself between the girls and the entrance to the cinema, and for the first time the three realized that the street was empty on both sides. "Stay here! I will investigate ... if I don't come back in five minutes, call the police"

He walked towards the entrance of the movie Theater and, to the surprise of the two girls, went inside the building without hesitation. One of them grimaced bitterly.  
“Naru, go and get the police!” Usagi separated from her friend and tried to wave her friend away.

"It hasn't been five minutes."

"If everything were alright, he would be back already"

"What are you going to do? You don't plan on going inside, do you? Let's go to the police together! Please!"

Naru had met the monsters several times, she understood the danger in a more primal way than magical entities as Sailor Moon could. Usagi, even if unable to read her friend's mind, was fast to elaborate a lie.

"Let's split!" Usagi said without hesitation." You look for policemen on that side and I'll search at the other side. It will be faster this way"

"...Okay…"

Usagi ran in the opposite direction from the other gitl immediately, disappeared into the corner of the street. Safe for any prying eye, she sighed and took a deep breath. A part of her felt bad about lying to her friend, but saving lives was priority and Mamoru was in danger.

She peeked back at the street, checked that Naru was gone and walked back to the entrance of the movie theater. She pushed the door, her sweaty palm leaving a trial on the gray glass as if she was a criminal instead of a brave heroine. The rotten stench of garbage greeted her immediately

She pulled out her communicator and contacted her two fellow sailor scouts: Mars and Mercury. Both faces shared the small circular screen

"Girls, there's a youma here, in the movie theater"

Sailor Mars nodded and her face faded, leaving only Amy's small face in the screen. The short haired girl pursed her lips before talking "Be careful Usagi, don't take unnecessary risks"

"I'll try" she answered and glanced again at the empty room, unsure if it was better to wait outside or just do as she was supposed to do. After putting away the communicator, she hid behind the counter and seconds later she left her hiding place wearing the white leotard, blue mini-skirt and red boots that formed Sailor Moon's uniform.

"Girls ... please ... hurry up," she said through clenched teeth as she walked down the huge, dark hallway of the cinema, already regretting her decision to follow through.

There were six rooms, and in one of them the youma was collecting energy and only Sailor Moon could stop it.

She cheered herself up, she was a superhero who did amazing poses and introductory phrases that fascinated the children and filled the monsters with fear, also she normally had the advantage of being on a higher place than the monster. She just needed to be cautious and don't blow the surprise factor. She could do it.

Her senses focused for any clue to find in which place the monster was. At the fourth room, she felt a feather light chill run down her back. She sighed before pushing the door and slidding into the place with the ability of a shadow, her breath inexistent for a couple of seconds.

The screen glowed and dimed, on it, hundreds of people in colorful clothes contrasted the gray colors of the chairs they slept in.

A dry sound attracted Sailor Moon's attention back to the real world and then she heard someone speak.

“Come on, get out!” A melodic voice, similar to the one of a mother trying to convince her son, sang at the other end of the room. The scout stuck against the wall, cursing her luck. Her skin bristled when the youma let out a triumphant shout "There you are!

The young hero looked up, searching for the enemy and ready to fight but after two seconds of waiting, she realized the youma was talking to someone else.

"You don't want to be with the others? Here you are very alone. So lonely, my boy ... come! Look at yourself, you're suffering ... Don't worry … stop dodging and join everyone"

Sailor Moon had heard enough. In a fast jump, she jumped over the fence that divided the hall and the rows, she fell on the back of a seat and faced the youma, a female siluethe with a projector with lips for face.

"The cinema is a place to enjoy with friends as you eat popcorn, for daring to attack such a joyful place, I will not forgive you," she said authoritatively and managed to get the enemy's attention away from the victim. "I am Sailor Moon, and I'll punish you in the name of the Moon." .

The youma started firing small balls of white light even before turning all of its body towards the heroine, Sailor Moon dodged jumping from seat to seat. The young Sailor didn't know what would happen if they touched her and wasn't willing to find out.

From the corner of her eye, she could see Mamoru taking cover behind a chair, and by the way he held his chest he seemed to be hurt. He would have to wait for Usagi to kill the monster to get any medical aid and she wasn't sure she could finish fast enough.

"Where are you watching?!" The Youma asked while throwing another ball of light. In her rush to dodge, Sailor Moon miscalculated and her left foot slipped between two seats and she ended stuck in the middle of the rows. The monster shrieked in happiness "I have you!"

"Get away from her!" Mamoru shouted as soon as he saw the monster jump near Sailor Moon and with an almost superhuman speed, he managed to jump through the rows that separated them, tackled the monster with his left shoulder and left the thing dazzled.

  
Sailor Moon took advantage of the opportunity, she stood up and brought one hand to her golden tiara, magic dancing on her white gloves ready to act.

"Moon Tiara, Action!"

The monster didn't have time to counterattack and after a sharp cry, a pile of sand fell on one of the red seats of the cinema. Free of the curse, people began to appear in the seats, first as transparent ghosts without color, then finally they were as solid as they should be. It was time to run.

A soft hand touched her elbow before she took more than three steps.

In the dim light of the room, it was difficult to discern his expression, but in his delicate childlike touch, she thought he was worried.

"Have we seen each other before?" Mamoru asked in a soft whisper, his voice completely different from his regular one.

"I have to go," Sailor Moon answered as she stepped away, she could see people regaining their conscience and preferred not to deal with a cluster of people ready to ask what had happened. Even then, her eyes never left him.

Mamoru nodded and before he could say any other word, the superhero disappeared as if she had never been there.

A day later, Usagi found herself in a pitch again.

"That was dangerous, Serena," Rei commented after hearing what had happened. "We were still far away and, this time, Tuxedo Mask did not show up"

"You need to be more careful," Amy added, her expression more solemn but much kinder than Rei's.

The three were gathered in the arcade restaurant arguing quietly about the affairs of the previous day. In the noise of the people, they could speak without fear of being heard and more because the popular names of Tuxedo Mask in the press was still The Masked or The Black Man. It was changing slowly but meanwhile it was a safe codename.

"Mamoru was in trouble." Serena defended herself and looked at her friends concerned. "What was I supposed to do?"

Rei became pensive and Amy pulled out a newspaper where the image of Sailor Moon appeared in the front page leaving the Cinema. It was clear the seconds Mamoru made her lose were the culprits that a journalist had managed to photograph her.

The magic that transformed her made it almost impossible for anyone to notice the similarity between Usagi and Sailor Moon, but still, the three young women feared that someone would discover their secret identities eventually.

"Bun-head!" A very annoying person decided to greet her as he approached her table, walking happily despite being almost hurt a day ago.

She clenched her teeth and crossed her arms as a greeting. Although she had saved his life, the boy was still the number one jerk in the world and she preferred him out of her sight.

He only lost his face of satisfaction when he saw the newspaper in the hands of Amy and the three could see the young man lose his concentration in the present to lose himself in some distant thought.

Knowing him, Usagi thought the worst.

"Haha" she smirked at him "Can it be that you're in love with Sailor Moon? Oh, wow. You're wasting your time, dummy, she already has a boyfriend.

"Seriously?" Mamoru asked alarmed, then took the newspaper and began to read it before anyone could say anything "There's nothing here about that boyfriend"

When he stopped reading, he saw them looking at him, his cheeks turned red and, with a shy hand gesture, he said goodbye in shame. The three girls laughed at his actions with open laughter.

Rei was the first to calm down, rested her face in one hand and with clever violet eyes watched Mamoru open the restaurant door as he left the place.

"I don't know if this is or isn't a mark in favor of him being secretly our Tuxedo Mask" the priestess said with a huge smile.

"Rei!" Usagi exclaimed scandalized "Stop joking about that!

"I agree with Usagi." Amy decided to shime in "If he were Tuxedo Mask, Serena would know, right? After all, you told us that you met Mamoru before the first youma attack"

"And, what about it?" Usagi asked before bringing a potato chip to her mouth in a try to remove the bitter taste that Rei's slander caused.

"Tuxedo Mask is your soulmate." Amy muttered to avoid being heard, her face reddening as she finished saying those words. Usagi blushed even more hardly but in a heartbeat the red drained leaving her face white as ash.

After a long silence, she closed her eyes and dramatically dropped onto the table while crying.

"No, he isn't"

Usagi had heard of thousands of cases where people found their soulmates only to lose them in the crowd, unable to recognize the face of their beloved in the faceless mass. In other cases, the soulmate was someone who you met alone and the washed colors gradually, in matter of minutes, became vivid and radiant, making you realize he was the one in.

Unfortunately for Usagi, the latter is what happened to her.

Many years ago, after leaving the hospital as her father drove home, she watched the sky and realized it was an amazing shade of orange, more beautiful than ever before, and told her father about it, her smile happy and big.

Kenji returned to the hospital, carrying the four years old in his arms, hoping that someone would arrive looking for his soulmate.

The young man who came to them was much older than her and the smile on his thin lips was shy. An hour earlier, he was the man that found Usagi wandering alone in the hospital, but the little girl had forgotten his name.

"I'm Gairu," the young man said nervously. "I think I'm your daughter's soulmate."

Gairu, with his dark brown hair, button nose and a really slender complexion, was not Tuxedo Mask. That didn't matter, after all, they say that with your soulmate you will find your happiness. At four, Serena practically already had her ticket to that promised paradise.

Even if she knew that, as soon as she met Tuxedo Mask, Usagi wished with all her heart that things were different. So, she had every right to cry.


	2. Dream boy

Most people dream about strolling above clouds, holding their soulmate's hand to go together to the promised castle of happiness.

Usagi, on the other hand, preferred to fantasize about Motoki. He was an Arcade Crow worker, and since she met him, she was enamoured by his radiant smile and pleasant character. Everything about him was perfect: his straight blond hair, his shining green eyes and his perfect complexion of a young man with strong, broad shoulders.

But in recent months, after becoming the beautiful superhero Sailor Moon, there was a new addition to her fantasies taking the spotlight. Handsome Tuxedo Mask appeared while she slept, his white mask covering a chiseled tanned face, a tall hat on his silky black hair and always he was donning a well-ironed black cape as if he is was going to a party. The purest image of elegance and charm.

Usagi longed to be loved by him in an aching way that Motoki never caused, however, she knew he was not her soulmate. No, instead, she had Gairo. How much she desired to forget he was a real person, but that day it was impossible. 

First, the ridiculous movie, then Mamoru needling her and now, her cherished friends were poking the issue.

"Engaged?" Amy blinked several times after saying the word, her face red and eyes lost.

"Yes," Usagi replied, head down as small tears began to form in her eyes, making her look younger than her fourteen years.

"You don't seem very happy." Raye pointed out, her eyebrows furrowed, annoyed at the idea of Usagi marrying a man she didn't love. The priestess's voice took a dangerous edge, her fiery mind thinking of using her powers to burn someone she already considered an enemy

"Do we know him?"

"No!" Usagi hurried to answer, waving a hand frantically in front of her "He's a nurse, you don't know him"

"Are you sure he's your soulmate?" Amy asked, leaving behind the shame to use a matter of fact, almost detached, voice, "Over seventy percent of people who thought they had married their soul mate admit having doubts if the other person is really their special partner" 

"Exactly!" Raye exclaimed as she hit the table with two thin fingers, shaking her head up and down to show support for Amy's idea "Clearly, he isn't your soulmate!"

"Impossible ... we both began to see colors more clearly at the same time. The world changed completely after meeting him... I know that he is my soulmate. Seriously girls, I promise"

Usagi sighed deeply and threw her biggest smile, as if she was actually happy to have found her soulmate and there weren't any dried tears on her cheeks. However, in her mind the kind Andrew and the gallant Tuxedo Mask passed briefly swearing love to her and she felt the same old hope stir between her ribcage.

"But there is a lot of time until the marriage" Usagi grabbed a new air of optimism by remembering that her wedding with Gairu was far away, many years in the future "So I will enjoy my youth!"

Days later, while they were facing another youma again, Usagi thought her youth was going to be wasted on monsters.

She considered herself a common girl with complexly simple interests: handsome men, pretty dresses, delicious food, beach days with her friends. Nothing to do with confronting a youma courtesy of General Nephrite.

Said general was an attractive man with a square face and brown skin, his long wavy dark brown hair always kept the shape and his eyes, despite being blue, were dull as if there was a gray layer over his pupils. He was the enemy in turn of the Scouts, although he rarely confronted them directly. 

His modus operandi was different from the missing Jadeite, instead of targeting crows, Nephrite cursed objects to steal energy from the original owner.

This time, the general decided to curse a plastic duck, which in its human form, was happy to manipulate the toys scattered in the yard of a single store house. 

Sailor Moon dodged a toy car without neglecting her search for the general, Sailor Mercury and Mars would warn her of the right moment to attack so she watched from time to time to the rooftops, looking for clues to his new enemy. She didn't want Nephrite attacking from the sides. He looked stronger than Jadeite.

"Watch out, Sailor Moon!" her mind simultaneously registered that one of the possessed toys was heading towards her head and Tuxedo Mask' voice.

"Sailor Moon!" Mars throw a small ball of fire to the not quite innocent soldier toy to change its direction and, after verifying that her friend was well, she returned her attention to the youma "Fire Soul!"

The enemy got submerged in a sea of fire and fell in the middle of the courtyard, burning strongly and a few meters away, Sailor Moon realized that the victim, a boy of perhaps ten years, lay pale and rigid in the arms of a man who none of the three women had seen until that moment.

There, kneeling on the porch of the house, was Mamoru. He looked pale, his black hair wet with sweat, holding with his right arm the boy's body, even as the left one gripped over his chest. 

"Now, Sailor Moon!" Mercury shouted from across the courtyard. Unlike Mars and Moon, she had kept her attention on the monster and when she saw the opportunity to finish everything, she managed to make her voice sound loud over the noise of the enemy burning.

"Right! Moon tiara, action!

The beam of light hit the monster riight in the center of its shared chest, it stepped back and, as it fell to the ground, the energy escaped from its burned rubber body to return to the child, who breathed relieved in Mamoru's arms. He was still unconscious, but more as if he were asleep than on death's doorstep. 

Mamoru also had regained color on his skin at the same time the danger passed. Still, the three scouts hesitated about how to proceed about a civilian appearing on the battlefield undetected.

"What was that?" Mamoru asked after making sure that the boy's pulse was normal, his blue eyes going from the Sailors to the small burning rubber duck that used to be where the monster was a few seconds ago.

"What are you doing here?" Sailor Moon disliked Mamoru since she met him, so her voice was full of a sharp edge that made the man shriek back "Answer!"

He watched her with eyes that were too bright and slightly flushed face. Squatting beside the boy, he looked up at her as if she were an adult and he was a little boy discovered red-handed after a bad deed. Seeing Mamoru flustered was an experience that the heroine was not used to, but it made her feel a lot better about the situation. 

"I came to help." Mamoru stood up, still carrying the boy in his arms, his voice as steady as he could despite being slightly intimidated by the glares of the women in front of him.

"That's unnecessary" Sailor Mercury pointed out, her voice akin to a kindergarten teacher scolding a young child after a mistake "Youmas are dangerous and it's better to get away when there is a fight"

"She's right!" Mars approached Mamoru to observe better what at first sight she could not, then a sly smile formed on her lips "How did you find us?"

"I was passing and I heard the ruckus." He replied defensively and his eyebrows began to twitch. "If I hadn't been here that thing would have hurt Sailor Moon. You're welcome!"

The Scout leader looked at her nemesis for a few seconds. He seemed to be sure of his words, and when he named her, his gaze sought her, waiting for her to prove him right.

"So, it was you who shouted?" Mars asked rhetorically and threw the conspiratorial smirk of 'Mamoru is Tuxedo Mask' that she liked to make since meeting the young man.

Except, that for Sailor Moon, this was further proof that the two men weren't the same. Tuxedo Mask was handsome, gentle, willing to give motivational words and handsome. Instead, Mamoru was Mamoru. His manners, for example, had not improved even if he was talking to Mars.

"Yes. I 'screamed" he replied as his ears and cheeks turned red, perhaps because he did not consider screaming manly, but his obvious shame did not calm the fury within Sailor Moon.

Since they met, he had irritated her with her horrible words and ability to appear in her path when least expected. His small show of courage in the cinema was replaced by his last meeting where he again called her "Bun-head." Just thinking about his annoying person being near s battle was enough to make her seethe with anger.

"Well, don't do it again!" She ordered him with her arms crossed, her voice loud enough to make clear that his presence was unwelcome "Let's go girls!"

"Wait, Sailor Moon!"

She wanted to take a leap of several meters and leave him behind and forgotten, but a part of her was still a girl who wanted to please others and her education won over.

"Can we talk in private?" He looked at the other two warriors and accommodated the boy in his arms, it was obvious that he was starting to get tired of the weight, but compared to his appearance a few minutes ago, he was rejuvenated.

"If you want to tell her something, it's going to be in front of us." Mercury replied for Sailor Moon, certain that the other two girls agreed with her words without asking. As far as she knew, he could be an agent of the Dark Kingdom like Masato (the human alias of Nephrite).

Mamoru saw them carefully, sighed deeply and nodded, although his thoughts on the situation showed on his red face. What he wanted to say to Sailor Moon was something that, without a doubt, embarrassed him.

"What do I do with the child?" he asked, looking for answers in them "He's fine, but asleep … I can't leave him alone"

"Wait for his parents and tell them what happened," Mercury suggested firmly, and in anticipation of his question, she continued speaking "Meet with us in the park tomorrow before the sunset"

Sailor Moon was confused by the turn of events, but she trusted Amy, so she nodded and threw a forced smile at Mamoru to let him know that she agreed with Mercury.

"Good." Mamoru nodded and once again accommodated the child's weight in his arms. "I'll be there!"

The three girls left the place, jumping smoothly over the houses roofs and after having set a good distance between themselves and the man, they hid behind a fence and detransformed in a shower of lights.

Raye adjusted her long black hair, corrected the lines of her uniform, fixed one of her socks before straightening and then, she gave a conspiratorial smile to her friends, happy for another battle in which they were the winners.

Amy, meanwhile, after dusting off her blue skirt, put her hands to her cheeks, trying to calm her nerves after everything that happened in that garden, unable to believe she had given orders to an adult man. As a hero, it was something that she had to get used to.

Usagi, on the other hand, stretched out her arms and made circles with her head to take away her stress, finding Mamoru in the street was already enough torture and she didn't want to see his face more than necessary.

"Why did you say we were going to see him tomorrow?" She asked Amy after relaxing a little. "I know! It's a joke! He will wait for us and we will not go, Jiji!"

"What? No! It wasn't because of that, why do you think that, Usagi?"

"No? Then why?"

"Raye thinks he's Tuxedo Mask, we should listen to what he has to say. This is our best opportunity to talk"

Usagi made a face similar to that of a person who sucks a lemon and then managed to stuck out her tongue to show her total distaste. Raye decided to intervene before a tantrum began.

"Come on, don't be silly Usagi! If he is our Tuxedo Mask, he may finally want to be formally our ally, do you want Tuxedo in the team, don't you?"

"Yes! But no! Everyone but him! Never! My Tuxedo Mask is much better than that unfriendly jerk"

Those were the words that ignited a childish battle between Reye and Usagi. Both sticking out their tongues to each other, self assured they were in the right. Amy watched everything without commenting, used to those strange signs of friendship.

The dawn of the next day came, and with it the promise of a terrible meeting that not even school was able to erase from Usagi's mind.

"My Tuxedo Mask is much better" Usagi repeated her mantra between gritted teeth as she walked to the arcade.

Two hours more, she was going to meet with Mamoru in the park, he would confess whatever he was going to say to Sailor Moon and Raye would finally stop bothering everyone with her crazy ideas about Tuxedo Mask. Even so, she hated thinking about the meeting. In her mind she could imagine it: his cheeky smile and mocking eyes, unable to take her feelings in consideration and ready with another insult to her hairstyle.

"Agh, I will dust him!" - Usagi shouted as she threw a fist forward.

The way it used to happen since crossing paths months ago, almost as if fate had a bad sense of humor, Mamoru crossed her way. 

Sometimes, they collided directly and she fell to the ground, other times, she threw some object that ended up on his messy black hair, and this time, her clenched right fist was the one that hit his strong arm. Paradoxically, her attack had more strength as she didn't expect to be stopped.

"Auch!" both yelled at the same time.

Mamoru checked the place where the hit landed, then straightened the fabric of his elegant blue shirt with care. Usagi waved her aching hand in pain, noticing that the sensation refused to disappear. It was his fault.

"What's the big idea, Bun-head?" he asked annoyed "It isn't good going around hitting people"

"It is when that person is you," Usagi said, her sore hand incentive enough to fight back.

Mamoru shook his head, after observing Usagi from head to toe, a gentle gesture appeared on his face and Usagi knew that something bad was about to happen.

"Usagi, you're a woman, right?" Without waiting for an answer, he put his hands in the pockets of his pants and continued to speak triumphantly. "As we are friends, I need your opinion."

"Eh?"

The girl did not know which part confused her the most, that the man had asked her if she was a woman or that he considered her a friend. Her confusion must have shown on hers face, because Mamoru looked everywhere looking for the reason why Usagi looked so perplexed

"Is everything alright?"

"Sorry, what did you say?" Usagi ignored the question and observed Mamoru under a new light. He had called her a friend, and for what she understood, that was his way of giving an olive branch. "Why do you need my great help?"

"Great?" he repeated raising his shoulders and looked around nervously before continuing "Can we speak privately?"

Those were the same words as just a day ago, his face had also acquired the same blush and everything in him indicated that he was about to reveal a great secret. That excited her.

She continued smiling as she accompanied him to a cafe, pleased at the idea of discovering a juicy gossip.

They sat at a table, facing each other. He with warm ears for shame and she pleased, gloating and feeling as a smarty observing the worst student after an exam. She suspected, and was right, that he was a good student and that made her feel even better.

"Do you believe in soulmates?" Mamoru asked in a quiet tone and she felt the blood leave her face.

It was one thing to talk about soulmates with friends, daydreaming about true love while imagining castles on the moon. That was normal. An art she had dominated since elementary school.

Talking to a man about something so important, so pure, left her frozen. And more because she feared that Mamoru would ask if she had her soulmate. Among all the people, except Tuxedo Mask, Mamoru was the last person Usagi wanted to know about Gairu. She would never overcome his teasing.

"Everyone knows they are true." Usagi managed to say and began to play with the tip of her hair under the table.

"True. But, I was thinking, do you think they really are the destined person, your true love, that you can be happy once you meet? Some people say it isn't the case, that's just a big lie, I used to... but now I believe the movies are right" Mamoru looked at her firmly and she only managed to agree with her head. Mamoru sighed, swallowed, leaned back on the table to avoid being heard and continued quietly. "Usagi, you're the best person I know, so don't tell anyone, do you promise?"

"What thing?" She felt her heart jump when she saw him so closely and a feeling of Deja Vu invaded her, it was part of a distant dream that she was still unable to remember, a memory of another life. In the end, she could only whisper a word. "Yes."

"I found my soulmate," Mamoru said without hesitation, his eyes fixed on hers.

Usagi felt that someone had hit her in the stomach and stolen her breath. Even the sounds around died down and that everyone kept moving was surreal, because nothing made any sense.

"Bun-head ?!" Mamoru pushed one of Usagi's shoulders slightly, his eyes going frantically from one diner table to another, losing all the security he had in the face of the terror of being judged, and her silence was scaring him ".. are you okay?

"Yes," she hesitated, the world was still off, but she forced herself to rest her head on one of her hands and grab a huge breath of air.

Mamoru asked for chocolate and water, and by inertia she ate and drank. The news were too much.

"Among all the people in the world, I didn't expect you to have a soulmate." Usagi managed to say with a half smile, trying to ease the tension between them. Her words, however, only managed to make Mamoru's concern change to rage.

If she could have read his mind, she would have witnessed the thoughts of a betrayed man. He had entrusted his greatest secret to a person he appreciated, and she had made fun of him, her words a reminded of a fear that haunted him since his childhood: he was really alone in the world.

But Usagi didn't read minds, so she didn't notice the shift.

"She is real! Today we will see each other” Mamoru said without raising his voice, but his tone was poisonous and his eyes shone with fury. He got up from his chair and without waiting for the bill, left the money on the table. Usagi did nothing to stop him.

She just wanted to be a normal girl and that neither monsters nor soulmates existed. At that time, especially, she felt as the most miserable woman in the world.


End file.
